BIPOC

We were already familiar with the American term POC standing for ‘people of colour’ although I don’t think it achieved the same frequency here that it had in America. This year has seen the adoption of the acronym BIPOC standing for ‘Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour’.  The idea is that this is a unifying grouping for all people who are not white. While it works in the U.S. where B stands for Black People, I for American Indians, and POC for Latino Americans, Asian Americans,  multiracial Americans, etc., it is an unwieldy generalisation in Australia where Black and Indigenous are the same, and POC is more likely to be discussed under terms like multiculturalism. The position of these two groups in Australian society is quite different.  The acronym itself can only exist in the context of political or bureaucratic lobbying where it is felt that more can be achieved by combining voices, but again that is unlikely to happen in Australia.  The needs are too disparate.